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A B767-300ER flight crew reported their airline was filing and flight planning for direct route arrival instead of the STAR arrivals common for all arrivals at major airports; thus allowing dispatch with lower than predictably required fuel loads since the direct routes cut off many miles and assume going from the last fix directly 'to' the airport vice flying the arrivals which; in this case; required substantially greater route miles plus low altitude maneuvering to land to the east; the same direction from which they were arriving. When the appropriate route was planned and filed the fuel burn increased by about 3;200 pounds.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1022134 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201207 |
| Local Time Of Day | 0601-1200 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZZ.Airport |
| State Reference | FO |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | B767-300 and 300 ER |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Parked |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Captain Pilot Flying |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Person 2 | |
| Function | Pilot Not Flying First Officer |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue |
Narrative:
ATC informed us that our filed direct routing was not appropriate-we needed to file a STAR. We advised dispatch and they changed our flight plan to show an RNAV STAR-arrival. The only problem was this change increased our fuel burn by about 3;200 pounds. We had to get more fuel. When I queried our union safety reps about this they informed me that this kind of filing is common practice by the company so that the flight plans would show lower fuel required even though they know ATC will not issue the direct routings. This can set a flight crew up for being very short on fuel and produce a dangerous and unsafe condition. Dispatch needs to file some kind of arrival that can realistically be expected. And the excuse of 'we don't know which arrival will be assigned.....' is not acceptable. They know which arrival will probably be assigned and should use it. File a realistic STAR that should be expected. With the company's flight history they absolutely do have the knowledge to know which arrival is likely to be assigned. They absolutely know the direct routings will not be assigned and should not use them.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: A B767-300ER flight crew reported their airline was filing and flight planning for direct route arrival instead of the STAR arrivals common for all arrivals at major airports; thus allowing Dispatch with lower than predictably required fuel loads since the direct routes cut off many miles and assume going from the last fix directly 'to' the airport vice flying the arrivals which; in this case; required substantially greater route miles plus low altitude maneuvering to land to the east; the same direction from which they were arriving. When the appropriate route was planned and filed the fuel burn increased by about 3;200 LBS.
Narrative: ATC informed us that our filed direct routing was not appropriate-we needed to file a STAR. We advised Dispatch and they changed our flight plan to show an RNAV STAR-arrival. The only problem was this change increased our fuel burn by about 3;200 LBS. We had to get more fuel. When I queried our union safety reps about this they informed me that this kind of filing is common practice by the company so that the flight plans would show lower fuel required even though they know ATC will not issue the direct routings. This can set a flight crew up for being very short on fuel and produce a dangerous and unsafe condition. Dispatch needs to file some kind of arrival that can realistically be expected. And the excuse of 'we don't know which arrival will be assigned.....' is not acceptable. They know which arrival will PROBABLY be assigned and should use it. File a realistic STAR that should be expected. With the company's flight history they absolutely do have the knowledge to know which arrival is likely to be assigned. They absolutely know the direct routings will NOT be assigned and should not use them.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.